Fowey, town and river, from Polruan
It was a bit of a damp day but the view was still quite good.
Myryama
I write about stuff that interests me but without actually bothering to check whether or not it might interest anyone else. Feel free to comment.
Lerryn, Cornwall
We had a wander along the riverside last night. Amazingly, the weather
cleared and the rain stopped.
(1 year ago)
cleared and the rain stopped.
Panorama from AutoStitch
The view from out holiday cottage in Lerryn. Not bad, and ridiculously quiet.
Pope warns that Christianity is being marginalised; non-Christians can only hope
On Friday, in in his keynote speech to MPs, senior members of British society and religious leaders at Westminster Hall, the Pope he warned there were some people who wanted to see “the voice of religion be silenced”.
He called on those in attendance to seek ways to promote faith “at every level of national life”.
He added: “I cannot but voice my concern at the increasing marginalisation of religion, particularly of Christianity, that is taking place in some quarters, even in nations which place a great emphasis on tolerance. There are those who would advocate that the voice of religion be silenced, or at least relegated to the purely private sphere.”
via bbc.co.uk
He may be wrong about all sorts of things (like the link between atheism and Nazism) but he’s right that there are people advocating that religion should be relegated to the purely private sphere. He missed the bit that goes “…with absolutely no influence, control, special privileges, legal exceptions, freedoms to discriminate or direct representation in the House of Lords” but he’s old, so we can forgive that.
Areoflot’s efforts at lunch were pretty dreadful
The choice was meat or fish; I chose poorly.
Ignoring the fact that it looked like someone had already eaten the“meat” dish I got stuck in and played “identify the animal”. I lost
and am unable to report which species of animal (if any) was killed in
the production of this “meal”. The chicken salad was also pretty grim. Chickens are evil little birds
but they don’t deserve to be treated like this. The dessert was
inedible and I didn’t bother with the bread thing. Can’t wait to get to M&S at Heathrow so that I can get off the Airline
Catering Weightloss Plan with a pack of salmon and cream cheese
sandwiches.
Queen and Pope’s opening addresses in full
Here is a link to the text of Mr Ratzinger’s speech - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11329273. It’s pretty awful and just goes to show how useless he is as a Head of State. One bit that stuck out is this: “As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the twentieth century…” He doesn’t elaborate on what those atheist extremists might have done but I guess he’s trying to revise history to make out that Hitler (who claimed many times to be Catholic), Stalin (probably an atheist, but motivated by personal power rather than a denial of god) and Mao (no idea) were atheists, as if that would explain their actions. I guess Mr Ratzinger would have a better knowledge of Nazism than most people; I wonder if it was his association with Nazis that led to him becoming embroiled in the cover-up of child abuse amongst his middle-managers? I’ve heard it said that he only joined the Hitler Youth because it was compulsory, but he would say that, wouldn’t he?
(1 year ago)
Aeroflot’s breakfasts are only for the desperate
Breakfast on the Aeroflot flight from Yerevan to Moscow. Flight isn’t
too bad but breakfast is a new low in airline catering; I was
desperate.
Photos of Yerevan, Armenia
I had a wander around Yerevan this morning, from the hotel to the
Republic Square and around the block. More photos later, probably.
Seems like a nice place.
(1 year ago)
Republic Square and around the block. More photos later, probably.
Seems like a nice place.
The Hotel Pool; terrible…
The hotel pool looks good - I may get to try it tomorrow, with luck.
(1 year ago)
Tourist trip to Tehran? Anyone?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tourist trip to Tehran before, but here
is an advertising sign from a shop in Yerevan. Maybe next time…
